If you're going the self-coached route this year, run your plan through this checklist for the best results.

by Ahmed Zaher

As the off-season gives way to the pre-season, many triathletes are beginning to refine their race schedule. Part of that process might involve a decision on whether to re-hire a coach, sign on with a new one, or try a new, self-coached approach. If you're going the solo route—or are just looking for feedback—check your program against these five aspects of a winning training plan.

1. Start from the end

I once read the quote "If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there." Decide on your destination first, meaning your "A" race and your goal for that race. Then settle on the path you're going to take to get there.

Define and summarize your A-race with one key training weekend (or three day block) that includes a multi-day, swim-bike-run session. This should be placed one to two weeks before you begin to taper and, when accomplished, leaves you with the best sense of preparation, both physically and mentally. Once you have that session defined, writing a plan is easy—all you have to do is back off the benchmark workouts, covered below. (Our experience also shows that this key, multi-day session can be effective as long as it does not exceed three days.)

An example of a key workout for an athlete with a few years of triathlon under his or her belt, is as follows:

From there, back off 10 percent every three to five weeks. You will find that when you start your plan nine months before the race, this key session will be very achievable.

2. Identify your strengths and weaknesses

Make sure you identify your strengths and weakness while taking into account the course, competition and distance. For example, the bike might be a strength for a bigger athlete on flat course, but a weakness on a hilly course. Make sure your plan starts with working more on weaknesses and slowly transition to working on your strengths as well.

3. Benchmark workouts every three to five weeks

Your benchmark workouts should be derived from your key workout. They should be very specific to your goal and take into account your strengths and weaknesses. An example of a benchmark workout five weeks before the key session above would be:

-50 minute run with 9 minutes in zone 2-3, followed by a 1-minute walk

Sunday: Brick

-1.5 hour bike in zone 2-3 HR/power followed by a 1 hour and 45 minute run, with 9 minutes in zone 2-3, followed by a 1 minute walk

4. Recovery that matches training

Every athlete requires a certain amount of recovery to match their training load. It helps prevent injury and enables better performance in training and racing. This variable is the amount of recovery you have to do to recover from a week or month of workouts and is dependent on age, fitness, and training load.

An example of an accurate recovery load for an athlete training for IRONMAN would be 30 minutes of stretching every other day, foam rolling once every three days, one cryosauna session and one massage per month. (Of course the best recovery tools are still sleep and proper nutrition.)

5. Balance

Achieving consistency in training—one of the main keys to success—is only possible with two things: life balance and fun. When writing a training plan, make sure you include a few fun workouts and lead-up races. Make sure you organize your time and workouts so as not exclude quality time with family and productivity at work. Quite simply, this is the best way to get healthy physically and mentally.

Ahmed Zaher is an eight-time IRONMAN World Championship finisher and founder of Playtri coaching.